Taxi for the Barrow mayor, please!THE next mayor of Barrow will have to catch a cab or hire a car to attend civic duties.
Barrow Borough Council has been forced to gradually downsize having lost £16.2m in government cash funding since 2010/11.
The historic role of mayor, which dates back to Sir James Ramsden in 1867, had so far been unaffected. But leading councillors have now voted not to renew the lease on the Ford Mondeo Titanium diesel, in which a town hall steward drives the mayor to events.
It will affect the next mayor, which would be Councillor Ann Thomson – the present deputy mayor – if Labour retains council control in the May election.
It costs £6,640 a year to lease the car, but the council has calculated it could save £3,000 a year by paying for taxis and vehicle hire charges. Executive director Phil Huck made the recommendation to the council’s executive committee.
He told the town hall meeting: “While we have been going through an exercise of reducing our budget, the issue of the mayor has not been addressed and this gives us an opportunity to bring that in line.
“Only one other council in Cumbria has a mayoral car, so we are unusual in that sense, and we are the smallest geographical borough in the area. Nothing I say here is downplaying the role of mayor at all. It’s simply an opportunity that’s arisen. The mayor is the first citizen of the borough. I think it’s a really, really important role and is absolutely fundamental to the way the borough operates, but I do think it needs to be considered.”
Having no mayoral car raised the issue of the council’s lucrative number plate, AEO1, which will now have no practical use.
Councillor Dave Pidduck, council leader, said: “Many years ago, I remember somebody wanted to purchase it and we said ‘no, it belongs to the borough’. Obviously, that’s something, as a council, we would have to look at.”
Mr Huck said it would make sense to exhibit it in the Dock Museum, adding: “The sale we would get from it would be neither here nor there.”
In addition, the council will spend £600 on a set of extra chains – because the existing ones are only covered by the council’s insurance when a steward is present. With no car, the mayor will now be unaccompanied on some civic duties.
Cllr Pidduck also told the meeting the original chains are showing their age and should only be used on the most important occasions.
He said: “The chains are very precious to the borough as a direct link to the very first mayor. They are getting to the stage where they are very fragile and bits have broken off and we should look to limit the number of times we use the originals – things like Remembrance Sunday, if the Queen visits.
“They are historical artefacts that we’ve got. It’s something we should look at to make sure that we protect these priceless objects.”
But unlike the current incumbent, Councillor Marie Derbyshire, her successor will no longer have the mayoral car to be driven in.
Here, we take a (tongue in cheek) look at other modes of transport the council might consider:
l A Sinclair C5: British inventor Clive Sinclair’s signature creation was billed as a revolution in personal transport. The one-person battery-powered vehicle was a notorious failure, but became a cult item for collectors.
l A space hopper: an Italian invention, the bouncy inflatable ball with handles was a popular craze in the UK throughout the 1970s and 80s. Seven-year-old Abbie Milton bounced her space hopper from Barrow to Dalton last year for charity, so it’s not to be ruled out.
l A Twizy: the Renault-built electric-powered cars are in action across the Lake District National Park in a bid to reduce emissions. Perhaps the mayor could display their green credentials by hopping into one of these 13kW mean machines?
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/taxi-for- ... -1.1198835
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